Moscow is located at 55.55'of northern latitude and 37.37' to the east of the Greenwich's meridian, in the centre of the East-European plain.
There is a folk saying about seven hills supporting Moscow. In reality, hilly are only some parts of former Moscow area, and the highest is the south-western part of the town. Geographically, it is defined as Teplostanskaya upland; the central and eastern parts of the town's area are more flat and low, and its major part is occupied by the valley of Moskva river with its tributaries.
The Moscow climate is moderately continental, although it is more then in other European cities. Temperature amplitude is 28 C. The cool period of the year starts in September, 29 and ends in May,10. Normally, the rainfall ranges within 540...650mm per year. The rainy period lasts from April to October. The duration of the severe snow period is estimated thus: November, 26 - April, 11. The height of the snow cover reaches 35 cm in the end of winter. Atmospheric pressure, that doesn't strongly change during the year, is 747mm. Winds in Moscow may blow in any direction, but during periods of warm weather the north-western ones prevail, while the south-western winds are proper to cool seasons.
Weather is rather unstable in Moscow, and the weather forecast service is the most common object for jokes. One of possible reasons justifying not quite reliable forecasts is a considerable temperature amplitude between parts of Moscow, it may reach 10¸C in spring or autumn.
